Ventilation apparatus for garages

ABSTRACT

A ventilator for installation in a garage door. It preferably fits in place of a standard garage door panel or into the panel. The ventilator includes a frame fitting into the door in place of a panel. The ventilator has openable and closeable louver slats exposed to the outside of the door and operated by a crank located on the inside of the door for adjustment of the louver slats to the desired position. A screen of appropriate mesh is installed on the frame on the inside of the garage, covering the inside such that insects may not enter the garage when the louver slats of the ventilator are open. The ventilator is preferably made of aluminum or other metal and is of sufficiently robust construction as to deter forcible intrusion, particularly when the ventilator is closed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Serial No. 60/338,664, filed Dec. 11, 2001.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to garage ventilators. More particularly,the present invention relates to louvered ventilators which fit within astandard garage door panel.

2. Description of Related Art

Ventilators for incorporation into garage doors are known. Many of themare mere screens and offer little security and no adjustability as tothe degree of ventilation. These screen devices may have a separatelyinstalled inner backing plate to shut off the ventilation, or may foldup against solid panels of the garage door. Some must be entirelyremoved from the garage door when ventilation is not desired, such as inwinter. Most present screen devices offer little resistance to forcibleintrusion. It would be desirable to provide a garage ventilator which isrugged in construction to foil forcible intrusion, is adjustable betweenan open and a closed position for selective ventilation, andincorporates a screen for denying entrance of insects into the garagewhen in an open position.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,043, issued Mar. 29, 1983, to Sorenson describes agarage ventilator having a screen panel pivotally secured to the bottomof a sectional garage door.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,087, issued Sep. 13, 1988 to Danley et al. describesa garage ventilator for fitting in a standard garage door panel whichfeatures fixed louvers and a backup screen for preventing entry ofinsects. The ventilator has a backup panel for closing off theventilator when ventilation is not needed.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,104, issued Apr. 6, 1982, to Guttman describes anopenable and closeable louvered panel operated by a crank for a door orwindow opening. No screen is provided for keeping out insects when thelouvers are open.

None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or incombination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a ventilator for installation in a garage door.It preferably fits in place of a standard garage door panel or into thepanel. The ventilator includes a frame fitting into the door in place ofa panel. The ventilator has openable and closeable louver slats exposedto the outside of the door and operated by a crank located on the insideof the door for adjustment of the louver slats to the desired position.A screen of appropriate mesh is installed on the frame on the inside ofthe garage, covering the inside such that insects may not enter thegarage when the louver slats of the ventilator are open. The ventilatoris preferably made of aluminum or other metal and is of sufficientlyrobust construction as to deter forcible intrusion, particularly whenthe ventilator is closed.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide aventilator for ventilating a garage which fits into the garage door.

It is another object of the invention to provide a ventilator as abovewhich fits in place of a standard garage door panel in an aestheticmanner.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a ventilator as abovehaving louver slats which may be adjusted between an open and a closedposition.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a ventilator asabove which has a crank accessible only from the inside of the garagefor easily adjusting the ventilator.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a ventilator asabove which incorporates a screen to exclude insects while theventilator is open.

It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements andarrangements thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which isinexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing itsintended purposes.

These and other objects of the present invention will become readilyapparent upon further review of the following specification anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an environmental view of a ventilator for garages according tothe present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the ventilator of FIG. 1 with the screenpartially cut away.

FIG. 3 is a partial side view is section of the ventilator of FIG. 1,illustrating the rotatable louver slats and the inner screen.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistentlythroughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention is a ventilator for installation in a garage door.It preferably fits in place of a standard garage door panel or into thepanel. The ventilator includes a frame fitting into the door in place ofa panel. The ventilator has openable and closeable louver slats exposedto the outside of the door and operated by a crank located on the insideof the door for adjustment of the louver slats to the desired position.A screen of appropriate mesh is installed on the frame on the inside ofthe garage, covering the inside such that insects may not enter thegarage when the louver slats of the ventilator are open.

Referring to FIG. 1. there is shown an environmental view of theinventive ventilator. House H has attached garage G with overhead garagedoor GD having standard panels P. One or more inventive ventilators Vare fit in place of standard panels P in order to provide ventilation tothe inside of garage G when desired.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a rear view of the ventilator 10 ina closed position as seen from the inside of the garage G comprising anouter frame 12 supporting louver slats 16 which are subject to openingand closing by the action of crank 20 acting on gears(not shown) incasing 20 mounted on frame 12. Screen 22 is mounted on the rear of outerframe 12 and is of such mesh size as to prevent insects from enteringthe interior of the garage through the open ventilator. The ventilatoris preferably made of aluminum or other metal and is of sufficientlyrobust in construction as to deter forcible intrusion, particularly whenin a closed position.

Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a partial sectional side view of theventilator 10 in an open position wherein frame 12 supports inner screen22. Louver slats 16 are supported for rotation by slat supports 24 onpivot upright 26 by means of pivot bearing 28 and pivoting is actuatedby vertical movement of slat actuating upright 30 by means of actuatingbearing 32. Vertical movement of slat actuating upright 30 is effectedby means of turning ventilator crank 18 which acts on gears such as rackand pinion gears(not shown) or the equivalent in a known manner.

In operation, crank 20 is turned by the user in one direction to pullslat actuating upright downward, thus pivoting louver slats 16 to anopen position as shown in FIG. 3. Crank 20 is turned in the oppositedirection to pivot louver slats 16 to an intermediate position or aclosed position as shown in FIG. 2.

The ventilator of the present invention may be constructed in a varietyof sizes to match various standard garage door panels. The constructionof the ventilator is preferably robust to deter forcible entry into thegarage, particularly in the closed position, and may be made of suitablemetal, plastic, or composite material.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to thesole embodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodimentswithin the scope of the following claims.

I claim:
 1. A ventilated garage door comprising in combination: a garagedoor having a plurality of panels; and a ventilator replacing one ofsaid plurality of panels, said ventilator including: a frame sized toreplace one of said panels, said frame having an inner side facinginteriorly of the garage door and an outer side facing exteriorly of thegarage door when said garage door is in a closed position; a pluralityof parallel louver slats supported within said frame for rotationbetween an open position and a closed position; a screen supported bysaid frame and of such mesh size as to exclude the admission of insectswhen said garage door is in the closed position and said louver slatsare in the open position; and a gearbox located on said frame, saidgearbox having a handle and an actuator attached to said louver slats;whereby upon turning said handle in one direction, said gearbox actsupon said actuator to rotate said louver slats to the closed position,and whereby upon turning said handle in an opposite direction, saidgearbox acts upon said actuator to rotate said louver slats to theclosed position.
 2. The ventilated garage door according to claim 1,wherein said screen is supported by the inner side of said frame, andsaid louver slats are supported for rotation within said frame anddisposed outward from said screen.
 3. The ventilator garage dooraccording to claim 1, wherein said louver slats are horizontallydisposed relative to said garage door and said frame.